Reducing Uncertainty in Fisheries Management: The Time for Fishers' Ecological Knowledge

This dissertation work presents a novel method for addressing system uncertainty to improve management of a small-scale fishery in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. Using fishers' ecological knowledge (FEK), this research examines existing perspectives and biases through the Q-Method to identify regulatory inefficiencies in the management framework and strengthen the rationale for including fishers into the management process, develops a coupled behavior-economics model to predict the likelihood of fishing the preferred grounds under a range of physical and regulatory conditions, establishes a baseline assessment of a spawning aggregation of mutton snapper following sixteen years of protection through a no-take marine protected area, and conducts a discrete choice method test to examine likely public support for FEK-based proposed regulatory alternatives. This work contributes to an under-studied and much-needed area of fisheries management, that of incorporating socioeconomic motivations within an ecosystem-based framework. As fisheries management efforts begin to embrace ecosystem-based approaches, the need for understanding and incorporating the knowledge and behavior of fishers into management has never been greater. Ecological goals of fishery sustainability and continued habitat function cannot be achieved without first understanding how fishers view and respond to any regulatory environment and then developing a framework that achieves the greatest support for those regulations. The time has come for incorporating FEK into ecosystem-based fisheries management

Blue Growth: A Transitions Approach to Developing Sustainable Pathways

The sustainable management of Blue Growth is an urgent issue for coastal states. Marine industries have rapidly expanded over the last two decades and this is projected to continue with the European Green Deal and post-COVID economic recovery policies. The intensification of Blue Growth could have adverse socio-ecological implications and must, therefore, be managed in terms of sustainability, natural resource boundaries, and coastal community well-being. Managing Blue Growth in a sustainable manner however, is challenging due to the longstanding inefficiencies and inertia of existing marine governance regimes. Adopting a transitions approach has been advanced as a way of steering regime change so that it is not inhibited by these persistent problems. This paper reports on four case studies that adopt transitions thinking and use the multi-level perspective as a broad analytical framework through which to understand institutional dynamics, drivers and responses within core marine sectors. Our case studies analysis reveals several significant pressures for regime change within key marine sectors. These pressures need to be addressed through the adoption of a transition management approach. By adopting this approach and engaging key stakeholders, national and EU marine governance authorities can develop sustainable Blue Growth pathways that minimize the impact of continued growth on communities and the marine environment, maximizing the implementation of sustainable practices and addressing issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change

Carbon on the Northwest European Shelf: Contemporary Budget and Future Influences

A carbon budget for the northwest European continental shelf seas (NWES) was synthesized using available estimates for coastal, pelagic and benthic carbon stocks and flows. Key uncertainties were identified and the effect of future impacts on the carbon budget were assessed. The water of the shelf seas contains between 210 and 230 Tmol of carbon and absorbs between 1.3 and 3.3 Tmol from the atmosphere annually. Off-shelf transport and burial in the sediments account for 60–100 and 0–40% of carbon outputs from the NWES, respectively. Both of these fluxes remain poorly constrained by observations and resolving their magnitudes and relative importance is a key research priority. Pelagic and benthic carbon stocks are dominated by inorganic carbon. Shelf sediments contain the largest stock of carbon, with between 520 and 1600 Tmol stored in the top 0.1 m of the sea bed. Coastal habitats such as salt marshes and mud flats contain large amounts of carbon per unit area but their total carbon stocks are small compared to pelagic and benthic stocks due to their smaller spatial extent. The large pelagic stock of carbon will continue to increase due to the rising concentration of atmospheric CO2, with associated pH decrease. Pelagic carbon stocks and flows are also likely to be significantly affected by increasing acidity and temperature, and circulation changes but the net impact is uncertain. Benthic carbon stocks will be affected by increasing temperature and acidity, and decreasing oxygen concentrations, although the net impact of these interrelated changes on carbon stocks is uncertain and a major knowledge gap. The impact of bottom trawling on benthic carbon stocks is unique amongst the impacts we consider in that it is widespread and also directly manageable, although its net effect on the carbon budget is uncertain. Coastal habitats are vulnerable to sea level rise and are strongly impacted by management decisions. Local, national and regional actions have the potential to protect or enhance carbon storage, but ultimately global governance, via controls on emissions, has the greatest potential to influence the long-term fate of carbon stocks in the northwestern European continental shelf

Sequential multiple assignment randomised trial to develop an adaptive mobile health intervention to increase physical activity in people poststroke in the community setting in Ireland: TAPAS trial protocol

INTRODUCTION: Stroke is the second-leading cause of death and disability globally. Participation in physical activity (PA) is a cornerstone of secondary prevention in stroke care. Given the heterogeneous nature of stroke, PA interventions that are adaptive to individual performance are recommended. Mobile health (mHealth) has been identified as a potential approach to supporting PA poststroke. To this end, we aim to use a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomised Trial (SMART) design to develop an adaptive, user-informed mHealth intervention to improve PA poststroke. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The components included in the 12-week intervention are based on empirical evidence and behavioural change theory and will include treatments to increase participation in Structured Exercise and Lifestyle or a combination of both. 117 participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatment components. At 6 weeks postinitial randomisation, participants will be classified as responders or non-responders based on participants' change in step count. Non-responders to the initial treatment will be randomly assigned to a different treatment allocation. The primary outcome will be PA (steps/day), feasibility and secondary clinical and cost outcomes will also be included. A SMART design will be used to evaluate the optimum adaptive PA intervention among community-dwelling, ambulatory people poststroke. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the Health Service Executive Mid-Western Ethics Committee (REC Ref: 026/2022). The findings will be submitted for publication and presented at relevant national and international academic conferences.</p

Long QT syndrome-associated calmodulin variants disrupt the activity of the slowly activating delayed rectifier potassium channel.

Calmodulin (CaM) is a highly conserved mediator of calcium (Ca2+ )-dependent signalling and modulates various cardiac ion channels. Genotyping has revealed several CaM mutations associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS). LQTS patients display prolonged ventricular recovery times (QT interval), increasing their risk of incurring life-threatening arrhythmic events. Loss-of-function mutations to Kv7.1 (which drives the slow delayed rectifier potassium current, IKs, a key ventricular repolarising current) are the largest contributor to congenital LQTS (>50% of cases). CaM modulates Kv7.1 to produce a Ca2+ -sensitive IKs, but little is known about the consequences of LQTS-associated CaM mutations on Kv7.1 function. Here, we present novel data characterising the biophysical and modulatory properties of three LQTS-associated CaM variants (D95V, N97I and D131H). We showed that mutations induced structural alterations in CaM and reduced affinity for Kv7.1, when compared with wild-type (WT). Using HEK293T cells expressing Kv7.1 channel subunits (KCNQ1/KCNE1) and patch-clamp electrophysiology, we demonstrated that LQTS-associated CaM variants reduced current density at systolic Ca2+ concentrations (1 μm), revealing a direct QT-prolonging modulatory effect. Our data highlight for the first time that LQTS-associated perturbations to CaM's structure impede complex formation with Kv7.1 and subsequently result in reduced IKs. This provides a novel mechanistic insight into how the perturbed structure-function relationship of CaM variants contributes to the LQTS phenotype. KEY POINTS: Calmodulin (CaM) is a ubiquitous, highly conserved calcium (Ca2+ ) sensor playing a key role in cardiac muscle contraction. Genotyping has revealed several CaM mutations associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS), a life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia syndrome. LQTS-associated CaM variants (D95V, N97I and D131H) induced structural alterations, altered binding to Kv7.1 and reduced IKs. Our data provide a novel mechanistic insight into how the perturbed structure-function relationship of CaM variants contributes to the LQTS phenotype

Bright spots as climate‐smart marine spatial planning tools for conservation and blue growth

publishedVersio

Hedonic capital, adaptation and resilience

The paper sets out a theory of hedonic adaptation and resilience. By distinguishing between stocks and flows of psychological resources, it suggests a new way to think about the dynamics of human well-being or 'happiness'. Central to the analysis is a concept we refer to as hedonic capital. We build on the idea that the evolutionary function of happiness is as a motivating device. Our model successfully replicates the patterns routinely found in well-being data - particularly the empirical regularity of an approximately stable level of well-being and the adaptive tendency to return towards that level. The formal model provides a number of testable empirical predictions. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

On the pivotal role of PPARa in adaptation of the heart to hypoxia and why fat in the diet increases hypoxic injury

The role of peroxisome proliferator activated alpha (PPARα) -mediated metabolic remodeling in cardiac adaptation to hypoxia has yet to be defined. Here, mice were housed in hypoxia for 3 weeks before in vivo contractile function was measured using cine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. In isolated, perfused hearts, energetics were measured using 31P MR spectroscopy and glycolysis and fatty acid oxidation were measured using 3H labelling. Compared with normoxic, chow-fed control mouse heart, hypoxia decreased PPARα expression, fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial UCP3 levels, while increasing glycolysis, all of which served to maintain normal ATP concentrations and thereby ejection fractions. A high-fat diet increased cardiac PPARα expression, fatty acid oxidation and UCP3 levels, with decreased glycolysis. Hypoxia was unable to alter the high PPARα expression or reverse the metabolic changes caused by the high fat diet, with the result that ATP concentrations and contractile function decreased significantly. The adaptive metabolic changes caused by hypoxia in control mouse hearts were found to have already occurred in PPARα-/- mouse hearts, and sustained function in hypoxia despite an inability for further metabolic remodelling. We conclude that decreased cardiac PPARα expression is essential for adaptive metabolic remodelling in hypoxia, but is prevented by dietary fat

Carbon on the Northwest European Shelf: Contemporary Budget and Future Influences

© Copyright © 2020 Legge, Johnson, Hicks, Jickells, Diesing, Aldridge, Andrews, Artioli, Bakker, Burrows, Carr, Cripps, Felgate, Fernand, Greenwood, Hartman, Kröger, Lessin, Mahaffey, Mayor, Parker, Queirós, Shutler, Silva, Stahl, Tinker, Underwood, Van Der Molen, Wakelin, Weston and Williamson. A carbon budget for the northwest European continental shelf seas (NWES) was synthesized using available estimates for coastal, pelagic and benthic carbon stocks and flows. Key uncertainties were identified and the effect of future impacts on the carbon budget were assessed. The water of the shelf seas contains between 210 and 230 Tmol of carbon and absorbs between 1.3 and 3.3 Tmol from the atmosphere annually. Off-shelf transport and burial in the sediments account for 60–100 and 0–40% of carbon outputs from the NWES, respectively. Both of these fluxes remain poorly constrained by observations and resolving their magnitudes and relative importance is a key research priority. Pelagic and benthic carbon stocks are dominated by inorganic carbon. Shelf sediments contain the largest stock of carbon, with between 520 and 1600 Tmol stored in the top 0.1 m of the sea bed. Coastal habitats such as salt marshes and mud flats contain large amounts of carbon per unit area but their total carbon stocks are small compared to pelagic and benthic stocks due to their smaller spatial extent. The large pelagic stock of carbon will continue to increase due to the rising concentration of atmospheric CO2, with associated pH decrease. Pelagic carbon stocks and flows are also likely to be significantly affected by increasing acidity and temperature, and circulation changes but the net impact is uncertain. Benthic carbon stocks will be affected by increasing temperature and acidity, and decreasing oxygen concentrations, although the net impact of these interrelated changes on carbon stocks is uncertain and a major knowledge gap. The impact of bottom trawling on benthic carbon stocks is unique amongst the impacts we consider in that it is widespread and also directly manageable, although its net effect on the carbon budget is uncertain. Coastal habitats are vulnerable to sea level rise and are strongly impacted by management decisions. Local, national and regional actions have the potential to protect or enhance carbon storage, but ultimately global governance, via controls on emissions, has the greatest potential to influence the long-term fate of carbon stocks in the northwestern European continental shelf